Clive Driskill-Smith performed at a Bach festival... in... Florida...

[KB7DQH]

[url]http://www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/arts-and-theater/os-clive-driskill-smith-bach-festival-20120202,0,4248877.story

. EST, February 15, 2012

It's not uncommon for teen boys to be impressed by sports cars or electric guitars or dirt bikes.

But at age 13, while attending Eton College in Windsor, England, Clive Driskill-Smith was captivated by the pipe organ.

"It was a combination of hearing this loudness and the variety of sounds," recalls Driskill-Smith, who grew up in southeast England. There was a snazzy visual appeal, too. "The organ at Eton College Chapel looks magnificent because all the pipes are painted," he says.

Already a student of piano, recorder and bassoon, teenage Clive was determined to tackle the organ, too.

"I asked the musical director — he said no," says Driskill-Smith, now 33. He adds drily, "At the time, I was a bit annoyed by this."


That could have been the end of it, but Driskill-Smith was not so easily deterred. The musical director said if he could reach a higher level of proficiency on piano, he could study the organ. And by age 15, Driskill-Smith was learning his way around the pedals that keep an organist's feet on the move.

Driskill-Smith, who now plays at Christ Church Cathedral at Oxford, today has a stack of awards under his belt and is hailed as the "star of a new generation" by London's Evening Standard newspaper. He joins this year's Bach Festival for a concert Friday, Feb. 17, to demonstrate what the American Guild of Organists calls his "blazing technique" and "unbelievable virtuosity."

The concert will be the first time Driskill-Smith has performed an all-Bach program, he says. Audiences are sure to recognize his opening, Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor. Even if the name isn't familiar, you know the tune: It's the eerie melody used by mad scientists, in haunted houses everywhere and to signal the villain in Disney's "Fantasia."

"It's probably the most famous opening of any piece of organ music. You can't really get a more dramatic piece than that," Driskill-Smith says. "Sometimes I think this piece is played so much people are fed up with it."

But when he hears the audience response: "Then I don't think they are."

Even though he's familiar with the Bach repertoire, Driskill-Smith still have some butterflies in his stomach as he sits down at the Knowles organ."I get a little nervous, regardless," he says. "A little bit of nervousness helps me. I find a play a little bit better."

He's still a bit bemused that a love of music has turned into a full-time occupation.

"It's difficult to know where one's career is going to take one, really," he says. "Little did I know that in 2012 I'd be playing at Rollins College. It's a fun life, I enjoy it."

Clive Driskill-Smith

• What: Organ concert, part of the annual Bach Festival

• When: 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 17

• Where: Knowles Chapel, Rollins College, 1000 Holt Ave., Winter Park

• Tickets: $25

• Call: 407-646-2182

• Online: Bachfestival.org

The event has already concluded but thought this might be of interest to anyone thinking about taking up the organ as an instrument ;D

Eric
KB7DQH